The Image of Man in Philosophy and Theology of the Twentieth Century

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleОбраз человека в философии и богословии XX столетия
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category History and philosophy of science - Orthodox Anthropology
6. Publication date 20-10-2017
7. lemma work Катасонов, В. Н. [Author]. Образ человека в философии и богословии XX столетия.
8. lemma manifestations Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия 1: Богословие. Философия. Религиоведение
9. Keywords analytical philosophy - Christian philosophy - anthropology - Christian anthropology - Human nature - academic theology
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Катасонов, В. Н. (2010). Образ человека в философии и богословии XX столетия. <em>Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия 1: Богословие. Философия. Религиоведение</em>, (30), 67-78.</p>
12. Lemma body

    1. The author argues that the question of human nature influences important spheres of life such as education, health care, and scientific research. In the 20^th century, physics and a simple mechanical approach could not explain human nature. This encouraged the development of philosophical anthropology. German philosopher M. Scheler (1874-1928) stated that humans were different from other forms of life because they have the spirit that can question reality and be aware of themselves and their surrounding world. According to Scheler, self-awareness means experiencing a void inside ourselves; this can either make us create new metaphysics or seek refuge in religion. For Scheler, religion is fantasy while philosophy is a path of investigation.

       Another founder of philosophical anthropology H. Plessner (1892-1985) thought that humans are different from animals because they can be aware not only of their body but also of the outside world and change it. However, Plessner believed that humans could find refuge neither in the outer world nor in their inner world. Therefore humans had to create a new world, new nature to build their refuge and safe home.

       Dwelling on the question of human norm the author states that there has always been the concept of subhuman. Many ideologies tried this in the 20th century. This problem was often discussed in terms of gender. According to traditional values, the role of woman is secondary to man because of her origin (she was created after man) and her "emotional instability". This view has been heavily criticized since the beginning of the 20th century by feminist theories. American feminist theologian S. McFague (b. 1933) applied a gender lens to theology claiming that God has the role of a mother. Therefore women are superior to men because they are created in the image of God.

       German theologian Oelmuller (1930-1999) makes a grim conclusion about the current state of religious theology after the atrocities of the 20th century. He believes that people are not able to understand God’s nature and that all religions try to find the same thing. Therefore not a single religion is superior to another. The author criticizes this view as too practical and applicable to current social problems without taking into account the core theological philosophy. In conclusion, the author states that humans are free in God’s creation and are free to make philosophical mistakes but they also can find the righteous path of Christian religion that only leads to truth.